Celtic manager Neil Lennon tellsltic players Champions League places are on the line following Kilmarnock defeat

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has warned his players that their places for next
week's Champions League tie against Barcelona at Parkhead are under threat
following their complacent display in Saturday's 2-0 home defeat by
Kilmarnock.

The offenders will have two shots at redemption before that Group G clash. They may have lost pole position in the Scottish Premier League before Sunday's visit to Tannadice but, before they take on Dundee United, Celtic must first negotiate a way past in-form St Johnstone in Tuesday night's Scottish Communities League Cup quarter-final in Glasgow.

Failure to respond to Saturday's first domestic defeat on their own turf since these same opponents won there on league duty 14 months ago, will see Lennon cull the culprits.

The Irishman certainly refuses to accept the anti-climactic nature of last weekend's fixture following their match at the Camp Nou as an excuse, never mind a reason, for their poor performance.

“That’s an easy way out,” he said. “There was just no excuse for the lack of quality in our overall performance. Up until then our domestic form has been blistering, if you look at Motherwell, Hearts, St Mirren.

“Interspersed was winning in Moscow, doing so well there. So their form going into the game was pretty good.

“It's a learning process for me because of the different demands and for the players, who are maybe playing Champions League for the first time.

“But we can’t, and they can’t, pin all their hopes on Champions League football and raise their game for these glamour games or whatever you want to call them. The SPL is the priority and if they are going to [under-achieve as they did against Kilmarnock], then they won’t play.”

Lennon exempted Venezuelan striker Miku from criticism, claiming that there were mitigating circumstances for the poor showing of the 27 year-old, a loan signing from Getafe.

“Miku I have a certain sympathy for,” he said. “I think the other players could have done a bit more for him. He is taking his time to adapt to the rigours of the Scottish game but there was a lot of good stuff off the ball that he was doing.

“We didn’t get the benefit of that because we were so pedestrian with the ball at times and lacklustre. So he can be excused: the rest can’t.

“He's desperate to do well. There’s nothing wrong with his attitude at all, he hasn’t been behaving badly or anything like that. He has been an excellent professional. His young wife and baby are here now and it takes a bit of time to acclimatise.

“Sometimes it takes six months. I’m sure we’ll see the best of him over the course of the season.”

Lennon also made it clear that his players must now earn his trust all over again and that a third successive defeat (for the first time since March 2007) would not be tolerated.

And, while he accepted that he made too many changes (five) to his starting 11 at the weekend, he dismissed the suggestion that those who came in were fringe players.

“James Forrest has been playing, Kris Commons has been playing, Adam Matthews has been playing,” he said.

“Beram Kayal hadn’t been playing because he was injured but he came in last week at St Mirren. Miku has been in and out of the team. So it’s not as if none of them have been playing.

“I don’t want them to be seen as bit-part players, I want them to be part of the squad like everyone else. When they play like that, it makes it a little bit more difficult for me to trust them. They are going to have to earn that trust again.”

“When things are going well I don’t want them getting carried away. I’m not saying they are getting carried away but all the great teams have it.

“There’s Barcelona, who won 5-0 away at the weekend. The great teams just keep going: they don’t rest on their laurels, sit back and say, ‘I’m a good player, I've cracked it.’

“They just keep going the same way. They don’t get too carried away with themselves, they have that even balance. That’s what I want: they don’t get too low when they get beat and not too high when they win. I want a good response to Saturday.”

"We've seen what Kilmarnock were able to achieve. Neil's been saying they want a response, so it's probably the worst time to play Celtic. They'll be wounded, they'll want to bounce back - it will make it tougher for us.

"It's about who performs on the night. We're under no illusions it will be very, very difficult. We're really looking forward to it. The boys always enjoy playing at Celtic. We're going to go there, give it a right go, given the size of the task.

"In Barcelona I thought they played really well and were unfortunate not to get what would have been a great result. I'll see Neil on the night. We'll have a drink after the game win, lose or draw."

Striker Gregory Tade is struggling to play because of a leg injury, while defender Frazer Wright has a broken nose.